The Gentle Sovereign
by Forever Champion
Summary: A ballad written by the Just King, depicting the story of the Lion, his creation, and the vanquishing of the Evil One.


**Disclaimer: Again, I do not own Narnia or anything related to C.S. Lewis's inspiration. Or the origins of the term: disclaimer.**

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_The Gentle Sovereign: A Ballad by King Edmund the Just_

_In a land filled with many lakes, there walked a Lion. The Lion entered a lake with no world, and he breathed into it the sun and stars for light, and fresh springs and a crystalline sea, and all manner of good trees and fields to cover the earth. Into this world he brought forth his firstborn: the talking animals, who sang his praise and exalted his name. He raised among them also men of rich voice and song, of cultures and nations and different tongues, who spun ballads and legends of his wondrous deeds._

_Yet into this young world there stepped a vile creature, who wooed the Lion's creation with promises of power and wealth and pleasure, until they could no longer hear the Lion's voice and instead sought her and the gods which she introduced to their lands. And every man and woman and talking beast did that which was right in their own eyes, and justice was blind to the cries of the innocent._

_But the Lion was good, and he did not leave his creation to suffer by their own cruelty. He walked among them and sang words of hope and healing and love, and those which were his own heard his voice. And there were others which were not his own, whom he had also put upon the land and drawn across the sea, and they also heard him whisper in the valleys and the mountains, and they followed his voice until they found him. These he kept close to himself, and reminded them through his marvelous deeds that there was no other like him in the land._

_Yet the Vile One continued to deceive the hearts of the Lion's creation. Some of them followed her teachings. Others devoted their souls to carvings of men and beasts. Some desecrated their worship with bribery and greed, and prayers for prosperity. Still others proclaimed freedom from all worship, and upon these she laid her darkest claim, for while they served not her, they honored not the Lion as well, and in this she blossomed in her victory._

_But the Lion was good, and he did not leave the lost ones to wander without hope in darkness. He walked among them and called them each by name. And there was among them a small lamb, the most insignificant of all the worlds, who was to be exalted to one of four thrones. Yet the lamb heard only the deception of the Vile One, and so he betrayed the Lion for promises of power and sovereignty and dominion over all. He exchanged the Maker of All Worlds for the things which the world had made, and in turn was betrayed and locked in deepest darkness, to be tormented by the Vile One and her servants of evil._

_But the Lion was good, and he carried the lamb away from the inescapable prison, and offered not only for this one, but for all who had come before and after him, a ransom which could not be equaled. For the Creator of Life lay upon the table and allowed the Vile One to put him to death, so that his blood may attone for the crimes of every man and woman and beast, from that day forth, to the days before, and to the end of eternity. And the Vile One thought she had won._

_But the Lion was good, and when the dawn struck he rose with a shout that cracked the heavens, and the stone table was split in two. Then he called to himself every creature who would listen, from the heart of Narnia to the fringes of Calormen, and those who knew him heard his voice and flocked to his side. And those who heard him from the Vile One's army forsook their mistress, and they were welcomed at his table, for their hearts, once claimed, belonged to him, and she could not chain them any longer._

_ He called also those he had created in other worlds, from the lakes and beyond the edges of the sea and across the stars, and those who heard his voice followed the song until they found his Country. Yet the Vile One called from the path beside them, and she offered them prosperity and pleasure and immortal fame, and some listened to her voice and turned aside, until they could no longer hear the voice of the Lion. They followed her to a land of death and destruction, from which there was no return._

_But the Lion was good, and he traveled with them, even to the last step. Some realized their folly and turned to seek him, and he carried them away from the precipice of darkness and set them down on the path to life. And those who knew him well would not turn again to the Vile One, for they had joined in the song of their gentle sovereign and they did not recognize her voice. And when the journey brought them to the shadow of the last night, they did not fear stumbling along the path, for the Lion illuminated their footsteps and they walked with him into glory._

_And the Lion was good; he created the world and all that is in it, and he loved unto death that which was his own, so that death itself was vanquished forevermore, and those who were with him lived and prospered in his land forever._

_For all is good in the Lion's country._

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**"I am the good shepherd, who lays his life down for his sheep. I know my sheep and my sheep know me, and I lay down my life for the sheep. I have other sheep who are not of this sheep pen - I must bring them in also. They too shall listen to my voice, and there will be one flock and one shepherd."**

**John 10:11-18 (paraphrase)**


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